Kid Cudi Discusses His Suicidal Thoughts With Arsenio Hall

By Andrew McMahon

Kid Cudi was a guest the Arsenio Hall Show this past Friday to promote his newest album, Satellite Flight: The Journey to Mother Moon. This new album, which was released on February 25th, followed in the famed footsteps of Beyonce’s now well known self titled album, and got released as a surprise to fans and the industry alike with only a few hours notice.

While on the show, Cudi also sat down for what turned out to be a very personal interview about his looniness and depression. In the clip shown below, Kid Cudi explains that he had suicidal thoughts regularly for the past 5 years. It is quite intense.

Kid Cudi Discusses Hip Hop And Suicidal Thoughts

From: The  Arsenio Hall Show

Arsenio Hall Communications/Eye Productions/Octagon Entertainment Productions/Tribune Broadcasting

As seen on the video, Cudi also discusses the current state of the Hip Hop genre. He says the “braggadocio, ‘money, cash, hoes’ mindset surrounding hip hop needs to die.”

Coming from any other artist this might seem hypocritical, but Cudi, whose track record, literally, differs from the majority of mainstream Hip Hop and R&B, may have a point. Instead of rapping about cars and women, Kid Cudi tends to sing more about the emotional events that led to who he is today.

For anyone who has been following his career, this notion should come as no surprise. The influence of his personal life can be heard in many of his songs. For example, the rapper’s Grammy nominated single “Day ‘N’ Night” is actually an apology to his Uncle, who passed away in 2006. As Cudi explains in a 2009 interview with Complex Magazine, the misplaced bitterness he felt toward his uncle for kicking him out of his house, inspired the breakout hit, and upon his reflection, provided motivation for his career as a whole.

 This is because  Cudi met his mentor, Kanye West, at the crucial time when he was living with his uncle. Without that support, he wouldn’t have had the support needed to start his career. He explained, “If he wasn’t there to let me stay with him those first few months, there would be no Kid Cudi.”

West signed Kid Cudi to his  G.O.O.D Music label, in late 2008. While under the label, Cudi released two Gold albums, The Man on the Moon I and II, managing to sell over 1 million copies combined. This largely laid the foundation of his fan base to date.

While still maintain an amiable relationship with West, Cudi announced his departure from G.O.O.D Music in 2013 to focus on his own label, Wicked Awesome Records. Now that hes at Wicked with a newly centered  outlook on the hip hop industry, hell be able to achieve the creative goal of expanding what mainstream rap music has to offer. ‘s  He stated on The Arsenio Hall Show, that he hopes to change the culture and values of the genre so that it has a more open state of mind.

Once again, if you’ve been following the progression of his career, Cudi’s desire for a more open minded Hip Hop genre should come with little surprise. “Internal Bleeding,” the song he performed on Friday’s  Arsenio is drastically left of center when comes to mainstream Hip Hop, and  offers a coloring that is more complex, layered, and impressionistic than the pop culture influenced stereotypes that are currently influencing the mainstream. Perhaps, Just as Cudi is betting that their are many out there like him, that need more than that mainstream to relate to when going through very person challenges.  Hopefully he’ll find the artistic fulfillment he’s searching for for Wicked Awesome Records and this new album.

One thing’s for sure, he’ll definitely have lots of ways to promote his agenda. Despite his music’s dark subject matter, Kid Cudi’s career is looking bright  He has numerous upcoming projects in film and TV keeping him busy.

To date, he’s already appeared on a recent episode of Andy Samberg’s new Fox sitcom, Brooklyn Nine Nine, and Deadline.com reports that he’s set to play “Arie’s new assistant” in HBO’s Entourage movie.    No matter what type  of  entertainment, we wish nothing but good things for him, and look forward to what Wicked Awesome Records he has for us next.

Related Media:

Kid Cudi 

“Internal Bleeding”

Wicked Awesome/Republic Records